The Tornado Trap

Chapter 1 from Mini Book Flywheel

This is a draft chapter from my upcoming book, Mini Book Flywheel: How to Become the Person, Brand, and Category People Remember.

I’d love your feedback as I refine it.

You can read the Introduction I released last week.

Chapter 1: The Tornado Trap

My friend Max Olson is a storm chaser.

He literally chases and films the worst weather for his YouTube audience and news stations. He works tirelessly to be in the right place at the right time to experience these destructive events in nature.

The hardest to catch on film? Tornadoes.

They spin up fast and disappear even faster.

This is often how we act in business. We spin up with an offer, sling it on social, maybe run a webinar or a podcast tour, and then vanish. A few people see it, maybe a few get caught in the chaos, but when it’s gone, it’s gone. Forgotten as fast as it arrived.

That mentality was born out of one powerful concept: the funnel.

Funnels are step-by-step systems designed to guide someone from stranger, to lead, to customer in one interaction.

They’re engineered to extract value by making the path to purchase as smooth as possible. They often introduce additional products at checkout to increase the value extracted from its customers. "Would you like fries with that" at McDonalds is a famous real world funnel, but digital marketing has leaned heavily on the concept.

Funnels are powerful and they can work quickly.

But like tornadoes, they spin up fast and fade quickly unless there’s a bigger system behind them.

Russell Brunson vs. Alex Hormozi

I’ll never forget my introduction to Russell Brunson.

My business was less than a year old and I knew I had to host a webinar, because that’s what business owners did to make big money. I Googled and searched for how to structure it. That’s when I found something called the "Perfect Webinar."

It was exactly what I’d been looking for.

I clicked through his page, entered my card, and in that instant I was pulled into one of the most famous funnels in internet marketing history. A funnel is simply a guided buying process and Russell had mastered it. I got what I came for, but more importantly, I entered into his larger ecosystem: his podcast, his books, his courses, and his community.

The landing page for the Perfect Webinar pitched me exactly what I was looking for.

I couldn't get my card out fast enough to buy his product. After I purchased, he offered a course on creating the Perfect Webinar. I couldn't afford it at the time, but I followed his emails, podcast, and content for years.

I ended up buying several courses from him and using his software product called Click Funnels for years.

That’s the genius of funnels when they’re backed by a flywheel.

The funnel may introduce you quickly, but it’s the flywheel behind it that sustains the relationship. Russell built one of the strongest flywheels in the marketing industry on the back of funnels.

Alex Hormozi: Hurricane Thinking

Contrast that with my introduction to Alex Hormozi.

I discovered him through Russell Brunson, actually. Alex was part of Russell’s $25,000 a year program and was crushing it. I wasn’t in the room, I just heard Russell mention him on his podcast. Then I heard Alex was writing a book, and Russell himself said it was “so good.”

So I bought it. And I started listening to Alex’s podcast, The Game.

There was no upsell, I just went to Amazon and bought the book and he didn't pitch anything really in his book. This was a very different kind of introduction. Where Russell’s funnel was fast and direct, Alex’s book was slow, deep, and compounding. I read $100m Offers, applied the principles, and doubled my revenue in a year.

When he launched his 2nd book, $100m Leads, I bought as many books and swag I could convince myself I could fit onto my sailboat.

He set the Guinness Book of World Records for most people on a webinar launching that book, but he didn't really 'sell' anything. On the webinar he got everyone super excited like he was going to sell something, a course, then he gave it all away… for free… to everyone.

By the time he launched $100m Money Models, the storm had been spinning for years. The results? A 2nd record-breaking launch that looked less like tornado and more like hurricanes making landfall.

He sold on that event and made $100 million dollars in one weekend solidifying his brad and promise of $100m.

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You’ve read the free half of this chapter. The full chapter continues with The Flywheel Law, the mental model that explains why funnels cash in but flywheels compound. Unlock it (and all future chapters, existing courses, and premium content) by becoming a member of Revenue Writer.